Kerwin
A masculine name derived from the Welsh word "cerwyn," meaning "great friend."
Name Census estimates that about 2,025 living Americans carry the first name Kerwin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kerwin today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kerwin births was 1959 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kerwin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 169,261 Americans
Peak year
1959
89 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,031
Tracked since 1913
Census
Kerwin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,124 people with the first name Kerwin, which placed it at #7,244 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,244
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,124 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kerwin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kerwin is Black at 46.3%. The next largest groups are White (26.5%) and Hispanic (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kerwin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kerwin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.3% · 983
- White26.5% · 562
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 265
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.4% · 200
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 57
- Two or more races2.7% · 57
Popularity
Kerwin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kerwin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 559 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kerwin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kerwin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kerwins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Kerwin, while New Jersey, Missouri, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kerwin
The name Kerwin has its origins in the Old English language, stemming from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes that settled in Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire. It is believed to have derived from the combination of two Old English words: "cyr," meaning "return," and "wine," meaning "friend" or "companion." Thus, the name Kerwin could be interpreted as "a loyal friend who returns" or "a faithful companion."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kerwin can be traced back to the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historic document, a person named Kerwin is listed as a landowner in the county of Lincolnshire, indicating that the name was already in use during the late 11th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kerwin was relatively uncommon but appeared sporadically in various historical records. One notable figure was Kerwin de Burgh, a Norman knight who fought alongside King Richard I during the Third Crusade in the late 12th century.
In the 16th century, a variant spelling of the name, Kerwyn, was found in the writings of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "The Tempest," one of the minor characters is referred to as "Master Kerwyn," though little is known about the significance of this reference.
During the Renaissance period, a German astronomer named Kerwin Hartmann (1535-1609) gained recognition for his observations and calculations related to the movements of celestial bodies. His work contributed to the advancement of astronomy and the understanding of the solar system.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Kerwin was Sir Kerwin Granville (1667-1735), an English politician and Member of Parliament who served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1714 to 1722. He played a significant role in the political affairs of the time and was known for his impartial leadership during parliamentary sessions.
In more recent times, one of the most notable individuals with the name Kerwin was Kerwin Mathews (1924-2007), an American actor best known for his portrayal of the title character in the 1957 science fiction film "The Incredible Shrinking Man." His performance in this iconic movie became a cultural touchstone and cemented his place in the annals of Hollywood history.
People
Kerwin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kerwin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kerwin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kerwin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,025 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kerwin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 169,261 US residents.
Is Kerwin a common name?
We classify Kerwin as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kerwin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kerwin was 1959, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kerwin is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kerwin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,124 people with the name Kerwin, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,244 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kerwin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kerwin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kerwin leans strongly male. 2,090 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 33 female bearers (1.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kerwin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kerwin is Black at 46.3%. The next largest groups are White (26.5%) and Hispanic (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kerwin most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kerwin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (983 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kerwin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kerwin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kerwin in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kerwin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kerwin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kerwin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Kerwin as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.